Fabrication of Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) Nanofibrous Membranes using Mushroom-Spinneret Needleless Electrospinning

Abstract

Mushroom-spinneret is an improved spinneret design for needleless electrospinning apparatus, which has a bowl-shaped base with a mushroom-shaped cover. The mushroom spinneret can overcome some limitations that is often associated with the needleless electrospinning technique, i.e., high excitation voltages, poor stability of free liquid, and difficulty of controlling the spatial motion of multiple jets. In this study, we fabricate polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) nanofibrous membranes using mushroom-spinneret needleless electrospinning and determine the effect of solution concentration and applied voltage on the fiber morphology and diameter. The solution concentration had significant effect on the fibers diameter. When the solution concentration was increased from 8 wt% to 12 wt%, the average fibers diameter increased from 0.99 μm to 1.31 μm and the fibers diameter distribution became wider. Moreover, the average fiber diameter decreased from 1.31 μm to 1.16 μm when the applied voltage was increased from 30 kV to 45 kV. The coefficient of variations (CV) for all membrane samples ranged from 0.12 - 0.26, indicated uniform fibers.